FALL RIVER — Police arrested two Fall River men who, in two separate and unrelated incidents, are accused of groping and sexually assaulting two female students they met at Bristol Community College last Thursday.

In the first incident, police said Ruddy Joseph, 22, of 299 Quequechan St., sat down next to a 21-year-old woman studying in the campus cafeteria. The woman said Joseph began making sexually suggestive comments before he suddenly groped and touched her. After telling him to stop, the woman said Joseph stood up and left the cafeteria, according to a police report.

In the second incident, also on Thursday evening, prosecutors said McKenzy F. Blanc, 24, of 101 Fordney St., chatted up a female student outside the BCC campus library. After asking her to give him a ride home, the student agreed, and prosecutors said Blanc directed her to Oak Grove Cemetery.

In the cemetery, Blanc is alleged to have hugged, and then groped and sexually assaulted the student after she stopped her vehicle. The woman said she resisted his overtures, but alleged that Blanc continued making his unwanted advances until he left her car and ran off, prosecutors said.

During his arraignment Monday in Fall River District Court, Blanc said through his lawyer that he thought that he and the female student had a common "understanding" about where their interactions were headed. Blanc said he stopped his advances, exited the car and walked home when the student told him that she was not interested in him.

The two separate incidents — both which were immediately reported to police — prompted Bristol Community College to issue a campuswide alert. The college announced the arrests early Monday morning on Twitter and its website, and said that BCC Campus Police would continue working with the Fall River Police Department to investigate the allegations. Prosecutors said investigators have surveillance video showing both suspects on campus.

The BCC administration urged students to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious behavior. Meanwhile, authorities said there had been prior incidents involving both suspects that raised some red flags.

Prosecutors said Blanc has unnerved people by staring through the windows at a local Tedeschi's convenience store and that he has also harrassed women at a CVS Pharmacy in Fall River. A court-appointed defense lawyer said those statements by prosecutors were irrelevant and highly prejudicial to the sex assault case.

Meanwhile, the BCC Campus Police Department said that several faculty and staff in recent weeks had reported seeing Joseph picking through trash barrels and sleeping in campus buildings. His alleged victim told police that Joseph had approached her in recent weeks, but that he "acted strange" and seemed unable to hold a normal conversation, according to police reports.

Joseph — who is charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older — underwent a preliminary mental health evaluation Monday in Fall River District Court, where a psychologist told a judge that Joseph appeared to have some "psychotic" symptoms and that he was unable to understand the gravity of the criminal charges facing him. The doctor said Joseph also talked about recently spending time with his mother, who drowned two years ago.

Page 2 of 2 - District court Judge Thomas Barrett set a $5,000 cash bail for Joseph, and ordered that he undergo further mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. Joseph, who has denied the allegations against him, is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 17.

The judge set a $500 cash bail for Blanc, who is charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, lewd, wanton and lascivious conduct and intimidation of a witness/misleading police. The judge also impounded the police reports and a motion filed by prosecutors seeking to obtain a DNA sample from Blanc. Prosecutors said detectives found "splatter stains" inside the female student's vehicle and on her jacket. Blanc is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 18.